The former law enforcement officer who belonged to an elite unit told the reporter that he wasn't afraid of dying. He was afraid of failing the Venezuelan people. There were times when he felt alone.

"We wanted there to be a call to the streets that day, there to be big displays that the people realized there a movement had started," he said in one of his messages to The New York Times. "But unfortunately, there wasn't one."

Venezuela's military oppressed public dissent. The detective accused government officials of drug trafficking and police officers of corruption. He felt powerless when his brother was killed in a cellphone robbery near his home.

The night before his death he agreed to another interview with The New York Times, but it never happened. He used Instagram to say good bye to his sons, Derek, Santiago and Sebastian, before he was killed in El Junquito.

Five other men and a woman were killed with him, according to Venezuelan authorities. Government officials allowed two relatives to attend Perez's funeral.

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